Ridgewood Redemption

I had never heard of Ridgewood until recently, and when it was mentioned I felt very confused, I kept thinking it was in the Bronx or Queens. I'm not sure how common it is for a neighborhood to fall in both Brooklyn and Queens as is the case with Ridgewood. Apparently if you live in Ridgewood, Queens your mailing address has to be Ridgewood, Brooklyn. It's out there, past Bushwick, and from what I've read and seen it seems similar to Windsor Terrace. One day I'll go see. Here's 2 stories I recently came across that took place in this bi-boro enclave.

A Woman with a Big Mouth

I always thought my friend M must have had the most amazing mother because though her mother had passed away she always seems to be so close to M's mind, a force, someone whose fierceness and will still keep her husband in line.

When I got to see M recently, which is especially nice because being with the woman is like suddenly being blessed with extraordinarily good weather, I asked her what it was like growing up with her strong mother. She and her 9 younger siblings grew up in Ridgewood Brooklyn between 40 and 50 years ago.

Her answer surprised me. Terrible, she said. She was never kind, always yelling, beating us, forcing us to take cod liver oil. I was so surprised to hear this, because M just doesn't seem like the kind of person whose endured an upbringing like that.
We never talked, she was always yelling, yelling, yelling. But watch out if you ever said anything about us, because she would be in your face.

M said that she left home at the age of 22 and headed for Puerto Rico with her boyfriend, and when she did she left a letter for her mother listing everything thing she had ever done to disappoint her. What a letter that must have been.

Not long after that she started getting letters from her sisters asking her "What did you do to mom? She's totally different now. One sister wrote "She talks to us, she wants to know what boys I like, she's like a friend now...what did you do to her?"

M didn't last long in Puerto Rico. The man she went with wasn't the man she thought he was, and people she new there had little use for a woman inclined to speak the truth, loudly. She had no friends and was lonely, so she left. She found herself living on the Upper West Side, a comfortable place for a woman with extremely clear vision and a very big mouth.

Later, when her mother forgave her for her honesty, they became best friends.


A Bit of Witchcraft, a story from Brooklyn.net, told in 1938 by Annie Nilsson, one of a series of recollections of the neighborhood.

When I was fifteen, I knew a very pretty girl who lived with her parents on Freshpond Road, Ridgewood. An old woman who used to sell pretzels in the vicinity was said to be possessed of an "evil eye." (Read on)